Yr. Weekend, Pt. 2: By the End of Tonight Reunion/Benefit + No Pain For Zain + Mink Metal + Young The Giant Cancels + More

Doing the show rundown thing a little bit differently this weekend, I know, but it seems to be working okay, so what the hell — let’s keep it rolling, shall we?

For tonight (Sat., March 5th) I’ve already talked about a couple of things that’re going on, like the awesomely heavy-sounding lineup going tonight at The Mink — see the details about it over here, but definitely try to check out {Co-Pilot}, {Ghost Town Electric}, {Defending the Kingdom}, & {Cavernous}, in particular. Then there’s the Perfect 10’s II deal, which is basically both an art/music party and a launch for new mag Role A|F|M — see here for more on that.

While I’m very psyched about The Mink show, though, the “biggie” of the night is probably the much-heralded {By the End of Tonight} reunion/benefit show up at Fitzgerald’s. The event that set the whole thing in motion was pretty undeniably crappy — back in January of this year, some as-yet-unnamed fucking asshat stole the van shared by ex-BTEOT members Brett Taylor ({sIngs}) and James Templeton ({LIMB}), along with all the gear inside — but I have to admit that it’s pretty great that it brought the guys in the legendary Alvin-bred math/spazz-rock band back together.

Templeton & Taylor got the van back, apparently, but not the several thousand dollars’ worth of equipment, which makes it pretty damn difficult for either LIMB or sIngs to perform again (although according to {Free Press Houston} contributor Jacob Calle, the van was packed with gear for a LIMB video shoot, of all things), and as somebody who’s witnessed and been bowled over by both groups, that flat-out sucks. So they recruited fellow ex-BTEOT-ers Stefan Mach ({Lisa’s Sons}) and Jeff Wilson ({Fucking Thief}) to play a show tonight that’s both a reunion and a benefit to raise the funds needed to replace the stolen equipment.

Along the way, they also recruited pals {B L A C K I E}, {Young Mammals}, and {Caddywhompus} to lend a hand, thus elevating the show from “damn, that’s cool” to “holy fucking shit.” Tickets are $10, and all the proceeds from the show will go to Templeton & Taylor to help ’em stagger back to their musical feet.

If indie/psych/math-rock and smashup hip-hop aren’t your thing, but you still want to help somebody out tonight while listening to excellent music, well, you’re in luck, because you could also opt to head out to BFE Rock Club (which I think used to be one or the other of the Forgettaboutit venues) for the No Pain For Zain benefit show.

Zain Oliver is the son of Sean Oliver (aka Sean Ozz), who plays in local rock outfit {The Abyss}, and the poor kid recently shattered his right forearm in two places, making it look truly horrifying and unreal — seriously, check out the picture that goes with Jef With One F‘s excellent writeup in the {Houston Press} and tell me it doesn’t look like a Photoshop job. Yeow.

It sounds like the surgery to fix Zain’s arm went well, but as with things like this, now there are some big medical bills to be paid. The show’s proceeds (the suggested cover’s $5) will go to help Zain’s family cover the medical expenses, and a bunch of cool local music-like people have volunteered their time to help out, including {The Hates}, the aforementioned Abyss, {Black Kennedy}, {Provision}, {Harem Festival}, {Sheila Swift}, and {The Zeros}. There’ll also be a silent auction for a bunch of cool stuff folks have kindly donated (see the Facebook event page for details on all that), an on-site tattoo artist, and food & drinks for an additional donation. Well worth it, y’all.

Naturally, tonight’s not all benefits — hip-hop heroes Digable Planets are at Numbers tonight, and there’s also the Old 97’s show at the House of Blues, for one, and while I was a doubter prior to the last time I saw the band play, I walked away mightily impressed; they really are probably the top of the indie-roots-country heap, these days. Then over at the Houston House of Creeps, it’s metalcore(?) madness night with the {Carry Your Ghost} EP release show, which features a bunch of promising-looking folks.

On the bad side, tonight also sees one of a slew of cancellations lately (seriously, what the hell? Attention, doctors: you are killing the scene), as yelping, Police-esque Californians Young The Giant have apparently had to cancel their show at Fitz with the sexy, kinda Warpaint-like Kitten, and excellent H-town psych-pop kids {Featherface}. There’ll be a make-up date later on, but word on when that’ll be as of yet.

But hey, the rest of what’s on should be enough, right? Here’s the full list of cool shit going on this evening:

By the End of Tonight (reunion!)/Young Mammals/B L A C K I E/Caddywhompus @ Fitzgerald’s
Digable Planets/t.h.e. Misfit Crazy8 @ Numbers
Rwake/Defending the Kingdom/The Roller/Big Fiction/Odessa/The Burden/Turbo Krieg/Peloton/Co-Pilot/Cavernous/Ghost Town Electric @ The Mink
No Pain For Zain, featuring The Abyss, The Hates, Harem Fest, Black Kennedy, Provision, Sheila Swift, & The Zeros @ BFE Rock Club
Old 97’s/Those Darlins @ House of Blues
Orange Is In/Lee Alexander/Sheila Swift @ Rudyard’s
Perfect 10’s II Art Show, Dance Party, & Role A|F|M Launch Party, featuring Glasnost, Young Girls, Damon Allen, GRRRL Parts, Chris Cardenas, Ceeplus Bad Knives, & Mr. Castillo @ War’hous Visual Studios (4512 Main; 7PM-1AM)
Carry Your Ghost (EP release)/We The Fearless/1972/This Absolute/Rise From Your Grave/Cowboy Kid/Rahab The Monster @ Houston House of Creeps (6:30PM; $5)
D.R.U.M./Spoonfed Tribe @ The Continental Club